Wife By Arrangement

by Lucy Gordon

  She had the feeling that he couldn’t find it, because the little frown between his eyes didn’t abate. If anything it was more intense as he lowered his head so that his lips could touch her neck. She cupped his head instinctively, feeling how well it fitted there.

  As his mouth moved persuasively over her skin his fingers were working on the fastening at the back of her dress. It whispered to the ground and she felt the cool night air against her skin.

  But she herself couldn’t be cool. She was already burning with need for him. Something that had started the day he walked into the department store and challenged her was about to come to fruition, and she would find whether she’d gambled everything on a false dream.

  He tossed his jacket and shirt aside and took her into his arms. His kiss was gentle, almost everything held back until they knew each other a little better. Their other kisses had been fierce, antagonistic. Tonight, for the first time, they had time to kiss in peace, giving each other the benefit of leisurely exploration, no rush, no quarrelling, just a man and a woman free to think only of each other.

  She tried not to think of all the other, cynical kisses his lips had bestowed, or she would grow too jealous. She wanted him all to herself, now and for ever. Her mouth told him so as she welcomed him inside, relishing the feel of his tongue exploring her, teasing and inciting her. His mouth was warm and persuasive, cajoling her into pleasure. She answered with her own lips and tongue, with movements she hadn’t even known she knew, but which seemed to please him because he gave a little growl of pleasure and redoubled his onslaught.

  She didn’t know where her flimsy slip went, or how she came to be lying on the bed while he tossed aside the rest of his clothes and joined her, pulling her into his arms so that she felt his chest against her, as smooth as the marble of the statues that dotted this ancient island. He was part of it, part of a civilisation that went back almost to the dawn of time, but what she sensed in him now was timeless. Civilisations had arisen from it, yet it was un-civilised, primitive and thrilling.

  Once before he’d seen her naked, but she hadn’t known. Now she was in his arms again, and this time he was as naked as she, pressing her against his hard body while his hands roved over her. She explored him in turn, tentatively at first, then with growing confidence as she discovered how excitingly masculine he felt against her palms, the tautness of his muscles like sprung steel.

  At some point he switched out the bedside lamp so that they were almost in darkness. Only a little light came from the great curtain-hung windows. It might have been any man holding her against him, caressing her body intimately with such skilful hands. But then she sensed the power tempered by gentleness in his embrace, felt the hard, muscular length of his thighs against her own, and knew that this could be no other man but Renato.

  She felt his touch along the length of her inner thigh, seeking and finding the heart of her. Shockwaves of desire went through her as she waited for him. In the dim light she could see the gleam of his eyes. She thought they seemed troubled, almost hesitant.

  ‘Renato…’ she breathed.

  ‘You’re sure-tell me that you’re sure-’

  It was hard to speak through the tide of warmth engulfing her but she managed to whisper, ‘I’m sure-I want you-’

  The next moment the world was transformed into a different place as he slowly entered her, and she became his. But she had always been his. If she’d doubted it before she knew it now. She held him tightly, feeling the pleasure mount high and then higher until the world dissolved. Then she was nothing, only heat and darkness and whispered words that she didn’t understand, except that they came from the man who had become one with her and made her one with him.

  When it was over he didn’t release her, but held on as though he was afraid she would slip away. But she didn’t want to slip away. She wanted to stay here for ever. She fell easily into a sweet sleep, but awoke an hour later to find him watching her. He smiled and cradled her until she slept again. The last thought in her mind was the memory of his eyes, brooding, watching, never letting her go.

  It was too late in the year for a honeymoon on the boat, so they went to the airport the next morning. Angie came with them. Bernardo was still implacable and she was going home. They saw her off to England before catching the flight to Rome. After that they were going on to Paris. It was partly a working trip, as they visited their biggest customers, but Heather enjoyed becoming part of the business. In Paris they toured the couturiers and she acquired a new wardrobe that she wore for entertaining Renato’s customers in the evenings. French was one of the languages she’d studied, hoping to rise in Gossways, and she spoke it well enough to get by.

  ‘I shall start getting suspicious,’ Renato said as they got undressed in their suite at the Hyatt Regency. ‘I keep getting too many compliments about la belle Madame Martelli, très chic, très merveilleuse.’

  ‘I’m just trying to do you credit.’

  ‘Hm!’ His tone was deeply cynical and she chuckled. He was helping her off with a little black number she’d worn for the first time that night, but something provocative in her laugh made his hands move faster, more determinedly. The next moment the little black dress was lying in ruins on the floor and she was in his arms.

  ‘Renato-’

  ‘Shut up, I’ll buy you another,’ was the last thing he said before he silenced both of them. And in a few seconds the movement of his lips and hands had driven all else from her mind.

  After their first lovemaking she had slipped easily into the rhythm of passion, so that she found herself wanting him at all times, day or night. At first her own eagerness embarrassed her slightly, but that soon passed, and with every day she learned something new about physical love.

  She knew that she pleased him as much as he pleased her because nothing was too good for her. He rarely spoke of feelings, never his own. Nor did he often say a word to her that opened doors into his mind. But she had only to express a wish to have it granted.

  Once he said a strange thing. As she sat looking at yet another gift of jewellery, he said abruptly, ‘You think I overdo it, don’t you?’

  Thinking only to tease him she joked, ‘Not at all. After all, you did once offer me twenty thousand to sleep with you.’

  But she regretted it when she saw his brows snap. Renato wasn’t without a sense of humour, but he found it hard to laugh at himself. He didn’t vent his displeasure on her, but he grew quiet in a way she was learning meant that he was upset. And when she said, ‘I was only teasing,’ he brightened too quickly.

  ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘I’m just in a strange mood. Where shall we eat?’

  After which the subject was closed, despite all her efforts to raise it and put things right. Nor did she ever wear the jewellery because every time she tried he found fault with her appearance, until it had to be abandoned.

  Jewellery was the least of it. Soon after they returned to Sicily she happened to mention the day she’d arrived, when he’d told her Lorenzo was soon flying to New York.

  ‘I was going to turn my pea shooter onto you, but then you said I was going too, so I had to put my pea shooter away.’

  ‘You fancied New York?’

  ‘I’ll say. That’s one of the really annoying things about you-’

  ‘Among so many-’

  ‘Definitely-the way you take the wind out of my sails when I’m getting good and mad at you.’

  They were in bed, relaxing after making love. He grinned at her, curled up in the crook of his arm. ‘You enjoy getting mad at me, don’t you?’

  ‘It’s one of my more enjoyable hobbies, yes.’

  ‘Go on looking at me out of those glittering eyes. It gives me pleasurable thoughts and makes all the effort of landing you worth it.’

  ‘Landing me? I’m not a fish.’

  ‘But you were a challenge.’

  ‘Yes, I know some of the devious methods you used. You were supposed to be persuading Gossways to take me
back on the programme, but you never called them.’

  Something in his silence told her the monstrous truth. ‘It’s worse than that, isn’t it?’ she demanded, sitting up sharply. ‘You called some buddy among the big shots and made him promise not to have me back.’

  ‘I admit nothing.’

  ‘You don’t need to…’

  ‘You’ve got smoke coming out of your ears again.’ He sat up and reached for her. ‘Very pretty smoke, mind you…’ The last words were muffled as she thumped him with a pillow hard enough to send him right off the bed. He grabbed her as he went, and they ended up on the floor together.

  ‘I thought if I could make you mad enough with me-’ he tried to explain as he grappled with her wriggling body ‘-you’d marry me just for the pleasure of-in my mother’s charming phrase-kicking my shins every day. Ouch!’

  ‘Oh, stop making a fuss. I only used my bare foot.’

  She managed to get free and climb back onto the bed, but he followed her, pinning her down. She looked up at his face, furious, her breasts rising and falling. ‘I’m warning you Renato, I’m good ’n’ mad.’

  ‘I know. I’ve just got a fresh bruise to prove it.’

  ‘Let go of me.’

  ‘When we’ve had a talk about this-’ His eyes roved over her nakedness, and his speech slowed as though something had distracted him. ‘It’s-important to talk,’ he said at last. ‘That’s what-’ his gaze seemed riveted by the sight of her nipples, rosy and expectant ‘-that’s what-good marriages-are made of-’

  ‘Talking?’ she said breathlessly.

  ‘Confidence between-’ his fingertips brushed one nipple ‘-husband and wife-trust-where was I?’

  ‘Trust-’ she gasped.

  ‘Trust-and shared values-honour-’

  ‘Honour? You? The most devious, conniving, manipulative- Don’t stop!’

  ‘I wasn’t going to,’ he whispered against her skin, continuing the work that had driven her half wild. After that there were no more words, no thoughts, just sensations, need and blinding nothingness. The end was explosive enough to blot out the world, leaving only heat and swirling darkness, and somewhere a man with strong arms and powerful loins to bring her joy.

  In a sense that was just the trouble. There was joy, bliss, ecstasy, but not precisely happiness. Not unhappiness either, for how could any bride be unhappy with a husband who gave her all his attention and took her to new lands of sensation she’d never dreamed of before? But not to be unhappy wasn’t the same as being happy. Especially when she realised that sometimes he would use their sexual harmony to distract her from subjects he wanted to avoid.

  She never gave their conversation another thought until a week later he put the tickets for New York into her hands.

  ‘What’s this?’ she gasped.

  ‘Call it a second honeymoon.’

  ‘But we’ve barely got back from our first.’

  He shrugged. ‘I have business in New York. Of course, if you don’t want to come-’ He reached for the tickets but she seized them and backed away, laughing.

  They were in New York for a week, and although he looked in on the odd customer, it never seemed to Heather that this was a vital part of his schedule. She wondered if he’d done it only to please her, but while he murmured many passionate words when they were alone in the night, he never spoke a tender, loving word by day, and his manner, although pleasant, didn’t invite her close. Sometimes it was like living with two men.

  When they returned home she became more involved in the running of Bella Rosaria. She was wise enough to let Luigi keep the reins in his experienced hands, but subject to his advice she visited her tenants, discussed their problems, and began to make decisions. The revenues that came in were her own. Renato refused to make any claim on them, and even insisted on giving her a wife’s allowance. She would have liked to refuse but didn’t because she suspected that he would be hurt. It was no more than a suspicion, because she had to guess his feelings, but she sensed that she’d got this one right.

  Because of his reticence she couldn’t speak out about her fast growing feelings for him. She guessed that it had been growing for some time, but she only discovered its strength when he had to be away for a week. She wouldn’t have thought it possible to miss one person so much. It wasn’t just her senses that longed for Renato, but her heart craved him night and day. It was their first separation since their marriage and it was almost unbearable.

  It was nothing like the gentle pleasure of loving Lorenzo, which now looked more like a feeble infatuation with every day that passed. This love was savage and all-powerful, wiping out lesser feelings, leaving her helpless and desperate.

  Their reunion was overwhelming, and somehow she was sure she would find the moment to hint at her feelings and hear something about his own. But his most enthusiastic talk was of deals he had done, and there was something in his cheerfulness that kept her at a distance.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  A S WITH any properly conducted business arrangement the terms of their marriage were adhered to on both sides. Renato had promised Heather a place in the firm, and one day she came home from shopping to find him regarding her with a teasing look.

  ‘How would you like to take a trip for the firm?’ he asked. ‘I need someone to fix up some deals in Scotland.’

  ‘But isn’t that Lorenzo’s territory? In fact he’s in England right now-’

  ‘He’s got some unexpected problems that are going to keep him there,’ Renato broke in hastily. ‘If you take over Scotland it will ease the pressure on him.’

  She was ambitious for the chance. Even so, her first thought had been, I’ll have to be away from him. But Renato seemed delighted at the thought of her going.

  Next day she was on a flight to Edinburgh. She booked into a newly opened luxury hotel on Princes Street, and spent the next few days selling Martelli produce all over the most exclusive parts of the city, including the hotel itself. Her trip was a triumphant success, but it was spoiled for her by a persistent ache of loneliness that wouldn’t go away.

  On the last day she called home just to hear his voice, but he was out and wouldn’t be back that day. The violence of her disappointment almost winded her. She pulled herself together and went out to work, forcing herself to concentrate, and ending up with a full order book that she was eager to show Renato.

  But she saw him a lot sooner than she expected.

  Returning to the hotel, she was pulled up short by the sight of Renato and the manager sitting together in the bar. Her first reaction was stunned delight. They rose to greet her, all smiles, and her husband complimented her on the deal she’d done with the hotel.

  ‘Your wife is a true Martelli, Renato,’ the manager said. ‘She drives a hard bargain.’

  ‘And not only here,’ Renato agreed. ‘All over town, apparently.’

  So that was it. Her brief hope that he’d been missing her died stillborn. He was here as a businessman, finding out the skills of his newest sales rep, ‘all over town’.

  While the manager was ordering drinks, Renato looked at her glowering face and observed, ‘I’d hoped you’d be more pleased to see me.’

  ‘I don’t like being checked up on,’ she muttered.

  He seemed disconcerted, then pulled himself together. ‘It’s not exactly that-’

  ‘I think it is,’ she said with a sigh. ‘I don’t blame you, but let’s drop it.’

  No more was said. In the evening they were the manager’s guests for dinner, and the two men toasted her. That night in their suite she displayed her order book and received her husband’s wholehearted praise. She tried to look behind his eyes, but he wouldn’t let her, and when he embraced her, smiling, and said, ‘Let me show you just how pleased with you I am,’ she stopped worrying about anything else but the delight to be found in his arms.

  They stayed another two days, while she finalised her deals. He made a few suggestions but otherwise didn’t interfere. On the last
night they celebrated over a meal which they had served in their bedroom, ‘for the sake of convenience,’ as they both delicately put it. And when the time came they were glad there were only a few steps to travel.

  As they lay languorously entwined in each other’s arms afterwards he murmured, ‘You’re not really annoyed that I came here, are you?’

  ‘I thought you had important business to see to?’

  ‘What could be more important?’

  ‘Ah, yes, I might have been losing money hand over fist, mightn’t I?’

  ‘You forget, I first met you as a demon saleswoman,’ he reminded her lightly.

  But this sparring wasn’t enough for her. Surely now, when they lay so close, she could nudge him towards greater frankness?

  ‘But what do we really know about each other?’ she asked. ‘In bed, a good deal. Outside, very little.’

  ‘Nonsense. You know a lot about me. Devious, conniving, manipulative-I forget the other words you used but it sounds as though you know me very well. Besides-’ he became serious, ‘-in bed a man and a woman find their greatest truth.’

  ‘Yes,’ she said wistfully, ‘but not their only truth.’

  ‘How much do you think the other truths matter?’

  ‘Not much now, maybe. But later-as the years pass-’

  ‘Leave the years to take care of themselves,’ he said easily.

  She made a cynical sound that would have been a snort if she hadn’t been a lady. ‘That from you-the man who has to plan everything years ahead.’

  He didn’t say anything for a while, but at last he asked in a strange voice, ‘Are we talking about Lorenzo? I’d rather not, but if so, then yes, I admit it. I try to plan too much. Your marriage to him would have been a mistake. I knew that the day we went out on the boat, but it was too late. What could I do? Seduce my brother’s fiancée?’

  ‘Try to seduce her,’ she said firmly. ‘Don’t take it for granted that you’d have succeeded.’

  He grunted. ‘What would you like to bet against my chances?’